The present invention relates to a system for remotely controlling the operation of photographic apparatus and the production and quality at a lab shop, and more particularly to a remote management system suitable for centralized management of a plurality of minilab shops.
Compact and economical photographic apparatus (such as a printer processor and a film processor), called a minilab, recently has come into widespread use. Such minilab equipment often is installed, for example, within a supermarket at a minilab department (minilab shop) to provide photoprinting services as a sideline. Even an operator having relatively little photofinishing knowledge can make a properly finished (photoprint) using minilab equipment having automated functions.
It is necessary to check and adjust photographic apparatus in order to attain proper photoprint quality. Minilab equipment usually is operated by an operator with insufficient photofinishing knowledge to perform such checking and adjustment properly. Therefore, photofinishing sometimes may be carried out under improper equipment conditions. Such a situation also may occur even at a large lab having a number of experts, if a number of reasons for needing checking and adjustment are complicated. In order to ensure proper photoprint quality, an operational condition management system or a quality management system may be provided independently to both a minilab shop and a large lab to analyze trouble or an adjustment failure of photographic apparatus. This management system is constituted by a personal computer and an analysis program, and is used at the start of daily work. In using this management system, a control strip supplied from a film maker is first developed in a printer processor. Then, the developed control strip is measured with a densitometer to obtain density data. The density data is inputted to a personal computer through its keyboard so that the operational condition of a processor in the printer processor can be diagnosed from the finished quality of the control strip. If the operational condition is abnormal, the causes of trouble or adjustment failure are analyzed and displayed on the screen of the personal computer. The operator checks the displayed causes and adjusts the processor to have a proper condition. Therefore, it is therefore possible to make a good quality photoprint quality by using the printer processor which recovered a normal operational condition.
The operational condition is different with photographic apparatus in an actual photoprinting system. Such operational data (setting data and measured data) specific to each photographic apparatus has not been supplied to the above-described management system, so that it has not been possible to effect checking and adjustment suitable for each photographic apparatus. Further, the conventional management system is intended to be used for analyzing trouble and adjustment failure for the case of a standard production state. Accordingly, although the conventional management system can analyze trouble and adjustment failure caused by temporary changes, it cannot analyze trouble and adjustment failure caused by a difference of production amount and contents correctly.
Photographic apparatus is operated under automatic control in accordance with various preset data so that measured data becomes the same as the preset data. Various data preset for the photographic apparatus can be used for quality management, production management, consumable goods management, operational condition management, operational condition history record, analysis of trouble and adjustment failure, and the like. Generally, photographic apparatus and a personal computer will have different data formats, and data communication is not possible during operation of photographic apparatus. For these and other reasons, the conventional management system uses photographic apparatus and a personal computer offline. Therefore, it becomes necessary for an operator to input data into a personal computer through its keyboard, and adjust the photographic apparatus in accordance based on the analyzed causes.
For production management of each photographic apparatus, a method has been adopted for noting a number of finished products, e.g., the number of filmstrips for a film processor or the number of photoprints for a printer processor, and thereafter summing the numbers on the note. However, this method does not provide proper production management, because of the possibility of forgetting to write the number on a note or missing a note. Furthermore, an operator of a minilab shop of a chain orders consumable goods, such as color paper and processing solution, from the headquarters when necessary. It has been difficult to order such goods at the right time, given considerations such as delivery time and the like. Further, the headquarters cannot manage production at a plurality of lab shops collectively.